


panic! at the disco

by escapismandsharpobjects



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Panic Attacks, Post-Episode: s03e15 Eddie Begins, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27092320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escapismandsharpobjects/pseuds/escapismandsharpobjects
Summary: whumptober day 18 - prompt: panic attacks.The second Eddie takes a step, he knows he’s made a bad decision. His foot sinks through the floor, and for a second he thinks he can save this, and he tries to pull his foot out. Instead, however, his foot sinks deeper into the hole it’s created, and pulls the rest of him along with it.
Relationships: Evan “Buck” Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	panic! at the disco

**Author's Note:**

> hey what's up!!!! i can't decide if i hate this fic or i like it agh !! anyway i hope that you like it at least :)

The second Eddie takes a step, he knows he’s made a bad decision. His foot sinks through the floor, and for a second he thinks he can save this, and he tries to pull his foot out. Instead, however, his foot sinks deeper into the hole it’s created, and pulls the rest of him along with it.

He tries desperately to grab onto something, but his hands just scratch helplessly at the floor as he slowly sinks through the crumbling floor.

He hits the concrete hard, and his head swims for a moment before it clears up. He takes a second to assess the situation - far above him, maybe fifteen feet or so, is the hole he’s just fallen through. He’s in some kind of underground room that had definitely  _ not  _ been on the plans for this building. 

He’d call it a basement except for the fact that it’s maybe three by three feet. Which means it’s  _ really  _ poor luck that he’s fallen into it - a step just a bit to the left or right and he’d have hit one of the walls, which would’ve stopped his fall.

Unfortunately, that hadn’t happened, and now he’s trapped. The situation feels horribly familiar. Tight walls, darkness, a long way up, and that terrible feeling of being completely stuck.

He tries to reason with himself as his shaking hands fumble for his radio. This isn’t anything like the drainpipe, really. It’s far shallower and larger and there’s no pressure of having to save anyone else. But these facts do nothing for the irrational part of his brain that won’t stop screaming  _ danger.  _

This innate, somewhat unreasonable fear grips at his throat, and he takes in a gasping breath, and then another, faster and faster. His mind is racing and he knows there’s something he’s supposed to do but he can’t think of what it might be. All he can think is  _ trapped  _ and  _ danger  _ and  _ death  _ and the walls feel like they’re closing in on him and every breath feels like it's using up irreplaceable air, so that each subsequent breath is a little shorter, and he’s shaking and so very  _ afraid  _ and he  _ can’t stop it.  _

He huddles up in the little room, making himself as small as he can to take up the least amount of space possible. He looks around wildly, the walls of his current surroundings mixing with the dreaded metal of the drainpipe. His brain is going too fast,  _ too fast, _ but at the same time he feels almost frozen. He is trapped and alone and he needs someone, he needs  _ Buck,  _ he needs…

Somewhere, in the back of his panic-riddled mind, comes the answer to his situation. His radio, which in all of his freaking out, he’d completely forgotten was gripped tightly in his hand. He pushes its buttons blindly, his vision blurring in and out too much to know which ones he’s hitting.

Eventually a voice comes through, and Eddie momentarily feels the panic lessen. It’s  _ Buck.  _

“Buck,” he chokes out, trying not to open his mouth too wide because there’s water rising around him, or maybe there isn’t. He can’t tell.  _ “Buck,” _ he repeats, desperate.

“Eddie? You okay?” Buck’s voice fills the small room. “You don’t sound too good. Did you get hurt? Where are you?”

Those are entirely too many questions for Eddie to answer in his current state. He tries to focus on one, but can’t decide which one is the most important. His breathing, which had evened out slightly when he’d heard Buck’s voice, picks back up again, and  _ he needs out of here, he is trapped, again, and the water is pouring over him and he can taste blood and dirt and-  _

“I’m coming, Eddie, just hold on,” Buck’s voice says through the radio. Eddie tries to focus on him, but then his voice is gone, and he’s alone again. He is  _ completely alone _ and he is going to die and Buck is out there, somewhere, and Eddie  _ needs  _ him, but he’s  _ trapped  _ and no one is coming.

Except someone is, and a moment later, Buck’s voice is calling down to him, from fifteen feet above. Eddie slowly raises his head, afraid he’ll look up and see nothing, but in the dim light, he sees the familiar outline of Buck. 

“Eddie, I need you to breathe for me, okay?” he says, and Eddie tries, he really does, but he can’t stop panicking and Buck is here, so everything is going to be okay, but he’s  _ so far away _ and Eddie is stuck down here. “Can’t,” he says, and it’s so quiet it’s a wonder Buck hears him at all.

“I know it feels like you can’t, but I promise you, Eddie, you  _ can.” _

The urgency in Buck’s voice gets through to him, slightly, and he starts breathing a little easier, still horribly heaving and rough, but longer and less in the realm of hyperventilation. 

“Good. I’m gonna throw a rope down to you now, okay? I need you to clip it to your belt.”

_ Clip it to his belt. _ Eddie focuses on those words as Buck moves around above him, and then there’s one end of a rope at his feet. He picks it up with shaking hands and tries to attach it to his belt. But the combination of him being curled up on the floor and the constant shaking of his hands makes the task seem impossible, and he looks back up at Buck again, helpless.

“Can you stand up?” Buck suggests. Eddie decides he can try, at least, and slowly pushes himself to his knees, and then to his feet. His legs tremble underneath him, but he finally manages to attach the rope to his belt, just before he collapses. 

The next second, though, he’s being pulled upwards, an uncomfortable but welcome feeling. He watches as the hole in the ceiling of his temporary prison grows larger and larger, and then his head is through the broken wood and he takes a breath that’s considerably less painful than all the ones before it.

“Give me your hand,” Buck says from beside him, his voice strained. Eddie obeys, passing one still-trembling hand to Buck, who hauls him up over the last of the wood and into a standing position.

Now back on solid ground, Eddie feels his legs once again give out from underneath him, and he slumps forward into Buck, feeling briefly like he’s falling through the floor all over again, until Buck’s arms come up around him and secure him upright. 

“It’s okay, Eddie, you’re safe,” Buck says, and one of his hands comes up to rest on the back of Eddie’s neck, while the other one rubs circles into his back. “You’re okay, you’re okay,” he says again. 

Slowly, Eddie feels the panic seep out of him as he listens to Buck’s calm, reassuring voice. In place of the panic, a bone-deep exhaustion starts to settle in, as well as some other feeling he can’t quite name. 

Before he really knows what’s happening, he feels a tear roll down his face, and then another, and it’s far too late to try and force himself to stop. He doesn’t even try, he just buries his face deeper still into Buck’s shoulder and _ cries.  _ Buck pulls him closer, still whispering those calming words.

It’s the strangest thing - here Eddie is, sobbing on his best friend’s shoulder, coming out of a panic attack, tired in a way that sleep alone won’t fix. He should feel...absolutely  _ awful. _ And somewhere, some part of him does. But Buck’s hands are on him, comforting and familiar, and Buck’s voice is telling him _ it’s alright, I’ve got you, you’re safe, it’s okay, _ and Eddie  _ believes  _ him. He’s alright. He’s safe. And it’s going to be okay, because Buck has him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading this!!!! i really hope you liked it, please tell me if you did :D!! anyway in other completely unrelated news my 18th bday is in two weeks!! and people are asking me what i want and i Do Not Know lmao. but i am also going slightly crazy bc. 18. how. aaaaaaaaaaa....anyway that's enough of me now, hope you have a lovely whatever-time-of-day-it-is!!


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